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Thursday, June 21, 2018

Yesterday, day seven of the 2018 FIFA footall World Cup, Portugal defeated Morocco 1–0, Uruguay defeated Saudi Arabia 1–0 and Iran lost 1–0 against Spain with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suárez and Diego Costa respectively. With this victory, Uruguay and hosts Russia have qualified for the Last 16 knockout phase.

Portugal faced Morocco in the first game of the day at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Morocco had better ball possession in the match. Morocco conceded a corner kick early in the first half in the 4th minute. Portugal’s captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored a header from João Moutinho’s assist, giving Portugal an early lead. In the 9th minute, Ronaldo almost doubled the lead for Portugal, but his shot went wide to the left of the goal. Two minutes later, Morroco’s captain Medhi Benatia got a chance to equalise, but his header was blocked. Morocco had multiple attempts to equalise but all missed or were blocked. Benatia was booked in the 40th minute for a bad foul. The first half ended with Portugal leading 1–0.

In the second half, Ronaldo had another chance to double Portugal’s lead but his shot missed the target. Though Morocco had several attempts for goal, Portugal’s goalkeeper Rui Patricio managed not to let any goals in. The match finished 1–0 as Morocco fell to the bottom of the table, having lost both matches in this tournament and having zero points.

After the match, Morocco’s manager Herve Renard said, “We qualified for a World Cup after 20 years and we’ve showed that we can play football.” Ronaldo was named Budweiser Man of the Match. He has scored four goals in this tournament.

Uruguay faced Saudi Arabia at the Rostov Arena for the second match of the day. Uruguayan striker Suárez was playing his 100th international match for the country. Saudi Arabia had better ball possession in the match. Uruguay’s Edinson Cavani missed a chance to open the scoring, with his left-footed shot going wide above the goal. In the 23rd minute, Suárez scored a close-range shot, assisted by Carlos Andrés Sánchez. Saudi Arabia’s Taiseer Al Jassam was substituted just a few minutes before the end of the first half, due to injury.

Uruguay missed out some opportunities to increase their lead in the second half but the first half goal by Suárez was sufficient for the South Americans to ensue three points at Rostov-on-Don.

Suárez was named Budweiser Man of the Match award. He became the first Uruguayan to score goals in three FIFA World Cup tournaments.

With this victory Uruguay and Russia mathematically secured their sports in the knockout phase of the tournament, while Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who are yet to face each other, are out of the competition.

Iran faced Spain in the last match of the day at the Kazan Arena. Spain had greater ball possession in the match. Spanish defender Gerard Piqué played his 100th international match for the country. In the first half, Gerard Piqué, Isco, David Silva, Dani Carvajal and Spanish captain Sergio Ramos had attempts for the goal as they had the ball for longer duration. Despite multiple attempts, the first half remained goalless.

In the second half, Sergio Busquets’ attempt was saved, as Alireza Beiranvand made a double-save. The Spanish side finally got the lead when Diego Costa scored a goal in the 54th minute in the bottom left corner of the goal. Just at the one-hour mark, Mehdi Taremi missed the chance to equalise for Iran. In the 62nd minute, Iran managed to put the ball at the back of the net, but was ruled offside. Iran’s Vahid Amiri was booked in the 79th minute for a bad foul. Omid Ebrahimi was also shown a yellow card in the injury time. The match ended with Spain winning three points and finishing at the top spot in the group table.

After the match, Iran’s manager Carlos Queiroz said, “We showed that we were ready to suffer and ready to compete […] There’s no doubt Spain play wonderful, stylish football but we deserved more for the way we played. […] We will learn a lot from this game. If you think of it like tennis, we had one match point today and we will have another against Portugal. Everything is still open. We are still alive and still dreaming.” Costa won the Budweiser Man of the Match award.

With Spain’s victory, Morocco also missed out the chance to advance to the next phase of the tournament.